FACT: Of all the Sarah Palin smears, this one seems to have the most durability, even after having been quickly and throughly debunked. It was first mentioned in this Sept. 2 Time magazine piece on Palin, and soon became a standard talking point in the rantings of numerous Palin-hating pundits and bloggers, including this Juan Cole piece at Salon.com. The story even made its way onto the official Barack Obama website (the page has since been deleted). A scare email soon went viral among liberals, which included a handy list of all the books that Sarah Palin had forced the Wasilla library to ban. Unfortunately, many of the books on that list (specifically J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series) had not yet been published in 1996.
In actuality, Sarah Palin did not ban a single book from the Wasilla Public Library. After numerous requests, the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman newspaper republished an article originally published on Dec. 18, 1996, which explores the library controversy in detail:
In the wake of strong reactions from the city's library director to inquiries about censorship, Wasilla Mayor Sarah Palin on Monday was taking pains to explain her questions about censoring library material were “rhetorical.”
Library Director Mary Ellen Emmons last week said Palin broached the subject with her on two occasions in October - once Palin was elected mayor Oct. 1 but before she took office on Oct. 14, and again in more detail on Monday, Oct. 28. Besides heading the Wasilla City Library, Emmons is also president of the Alaska Library Association. The issue became public last Wednesday, when Palin brought it up during an interview about the now-defunct Liquor task Force. Palin used the library topic as an example of discussions with her department heads about understanding and following administration agendas. Palin said she asked Emmons how she would respond to censorship.
Emmons drew a clear distinction Saturday between the nature of Palin's inquiries and an established book-challenge policy in place in Wasilla, and in most public libraries.
“I'm not trying to suppress anyone's views,” Emmons said. “But I told her (Palin) clearly, I will fight anyone who tries to dictate what books can go on the library shelves.”
Palin said Monday she had no particular books or other material in mind when she posed the questions to Emmons.
Emmons said in the first conversation, before being sworn in as mayor, Palin briefly touched on the subject of censorship.
But on Monday, Oct. 28, Emmons said Palin asked her outright if she could live with censorship of library books. This was during a weak when Palin was requesting resignations from all the city's department heads as a way of expressing loyalty.
The Anchorage Daily News also explored the question:
Were any books censored [or] banned? June Pinell-Stephens, chairwoman of the Alaska Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Committee since 1984, checked her files Wednesday and came up empty-handed.
Pinell-Stephens also had no record of any phone conversations with Emmons about the issue back then. Emmons was president of the Alaska Library Association at the time.Books may not have been pulled from library shelves, but there were other repercussions for Emmons.
Four days before the exchange at the City Council, Emmons got a letter from Palin asking for her resignation. Similar letters went to police chief Irl Stambaugh, public works director Jack Felton and finance director Duane Dvorak. John Cooper, a fifth director, resigned after Palin eliminated his job overseeing the city museum.
Palin told the Daily News back then the letters were just a test of loyalty as she took on the mayor's job, which she'd won from three-term mayor John Stein in a hard-fought election. Stein had hired many of the department heads. Both Emmons and Stambaugh had publicly supported him against Palin.
Emmons survived the loyalty test and a second one a few months later. She resigned in August 1999, two months before Palin was voted in for a second mayoral term.
The City of Wasilla also issued an official statement on the matter. You can view it here.
And yes, Virginia -- even in Alaska, newly-elected officials routinely purge local governments of appointees made by previous office holders. It's called "politics."
The suggestion that Sarah Palin demanded that books be removed from the shelves of the Wasilla Public Library, and then fired the librarian for refusing to comply with her dictates, is utterly false.
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